Sri Mukunda Das, Madhava Das and Sri Narahari Sorkar Thakur were
three brothers who lived in the village of Sri Khanda. Raghunandan was the son of Sri Mukunda
Das. [C. C. Mad 15]
In the house of Sri Mukunda
Das, who lives at Sri Khanda, Lord Sri Gopinath is served with
great devotion. One day Mukunda was called out to do some work, and
then he instructed his son Raghunandan to worship the deity and
asked him to serve the Lord Gopinath that day. He explained to him
that this deity is in our
family for many generations and thus He has been worshipped
by my father and his father and his father on and on, in this way
for many years. Just as your mother feeds you and I everyday, so
also He has to be fed everyday. Having explained to Raghunandan
that this is a very big responsibility and he should be very
careful to give his full attention to this service, Mukunda went out. Raghunandan meanwhile
having been instructed by his father, collected the items for
offering to Sri Gopinathji and entered into the deity room.
Raghunandan was at that time barely 5 years old and therefore, when
he saw that Gopinath hadn't eaten the offering after he had
imitated how his father offered the bhoga, he became very worried.
Ultimately he simply requested Gopinath with tears in his eyes:
"Please eat! Eat!" Gopinath became completely subjected by
Raghunandan's simple request, which was made entirely in love, and
thus he stealthily ate up everything without leaving any
remnants.
After some time Raghu-nandan's father, Mukunda, returned and asked
his son if he had done as he was told? When his son replied "Yes",
then Mukunda asked him to bring some of the prasadam. Raghunandan
replied, "Prasadam? I offered everything just like you told me, and
Gopinath ate everything; so what should I bring you now?" Mukunda
was completely taken aback. "This boy is not naughty and is always
accustomed to speak the truth. I doubt if he could have eaten
everything. I wonder what actually happened?"
Musing on this matter in this way for some time, on another day his
curiosity was so stirred that he again requested Raghunandan to
offer the bhoga to Gopinath on that day. On this day however,
having gone out of the house, he again came in by another way and
remained hiding in one place. Raghunandan was very happy to be able
to serve Sri Gopinathji again and brought everything into the deity
room. As before, he again very insistently persuaded Gopinath to
take his meal. As Gopinath had eaten half of a laddu, he espied
Mukunda peering out from his hiding spot. He didn't try to cover up
the fact that he had eaten what he had, but neither did he eat
anymore. Seeing all this Mukunda was completely immersed in
ecstatic love and picked up his son and put him on his lap. He
extolled his virtues in a voice trembling with ecstasy, all the
while torrents of tears of joy falling from his eyes. Even today,
those who are greatly fortunate can still see that half-eaten laddu
in Gopinatha's lotus hand. Thus Sri Uddhav das sings the glories of
Raghunandan, who is non
different from Madan(Cupid).
Raghunandan was present at the khetori utsob. In Krsna lila he was
Kandarpa manjari & in Dwaraka lila he was Sri Krsna's son
Kandarpa. Raghunandan's son is Kanai Thakur. His descendants are
still residing at Sri Khanda. Sri Khanda can be easily reached from
Katwa by bus or train. He was born in the year 1432 Sakabda.
